Stargazer
by Black Sheep of the Uchiha Clan
Summary: "Obito is alive." she said flatly, blank tone not matching the tears in her eyes. "What makes you think that?" the white-haired man asked dully. "I saw him, Kakashi." a pause. "You're delusional, Rin." ObiRin. T for now, very likely to go up.
1. Chapter 1

_Look at the stars_

_As they glimmer oh-so bright_

_And I cry here all alone_

_Without you to hold me tight_

Rin Nohara enjoyed very few things. She was a young woman known for always having a smile on her face; most of the Konoha actually children believed that she was incapable of frowning. Over the years, though, her smile had slowly grown more and more forced. Sometimes, Rin worried that she would never smile – _really _smile – again.

That was when she visited Obito.

It was usually well into the evening when Rin managed to finish her duties at the hospital and work her way to the memorial stone, but that was how she liked it. Stargazing had become one of the things she could take some measure of enjoyment out of, no matter how small. Often times Kakashi would find the brown-haired woman slumped against the memorial stone, orange goggles still clutched tightly in her hands, sound asleep from a long night of watching the sky.

The two surviving members of Team Minato never spoke a word about their teammate or sensei, though it wasn't for Rin's lack of trying. Ever since the fourth Hokage's death two years ago, Kakashi Hatake had become disturbingly silent. He had adopted several of Obito's old qualities – ironically the ones that the Uchiha boy was so often berated about by his silver-haired teammate – but he never was one for needless conversation, not even when Rin needed someone to tell her that it was okay; no matter how very _not _okay it was.

Really, nothing had been 'okay' since Obito's death, and Rin's life had continued to go downhill.

Every time the young woman thought – hoped – that she would be able to go about a day without crippling grief, or wake up in the morning and find her face tear-free because there had been no nightmares, or even walk down the street without hearing _his _voice in her mind, something else had gone wrong. Not just wrong, though. It was always more along the lines of a horrific catastrophe that tore apart Rin's world and forced her to pick up the pieces.

It had been nearly six years ago to the day that Rin and Kakashi were finally given their first mission together with just the two of them, an infiltration into Kirigakure to gather information on rumors of the three-tailed beast having fallen into the hands of the Blood-Mist nin.

The ensuing chaos was dubbed the 'Kiri Incident', at least in Rin's mind, and had been promptly classified. Not even Rin's trusted and sole surviving teammate knew exactly what had happened, at least not after he'd put a Chidori through the girl's chest, and it hurt them both that he had to be kept in the dark about it all. Thankfully, Kakashi hadn't asked any questions after the Hokage had a short talk with him – about what Rin wasn't sure – and for that small blessing she was grateful.

Sometimes Rin could even pretend that nothing ever happened, that _it _wasn't within her now, whispering in her ear when she was alone. She wanted to give up, let _it _take over, if only so that she wouldn't have to deal with that never ending ache of loss. And yet, the very boy who caused her so much pain had also managed to become her savior; in more ways than one.

But Obito Uchiha would never know how he saved Rin, even so many years after his death . . . and he would never know that Rin loved him.

It pained the brown-eyed girl that she had never told him. Hell, she hadn't even _realized_ it until the Kiri Incident. In those moments, the darkest, most painful moments in Rin's short life, it hadn't been Kakashi who filled her thoughts and kept her strong. It hadn't been Kakashi who kept her sane when _it _began to take over. Rin had even imagined that she'd seen Obito, that he'd held her close and stared down at her with a single sharingan eye and protected her when the Kiri nin tried to take her back to that horrible, horrible place. Obito was still saving her, and Rin would never be able to repay him for it.

After the Kiri Incident, Rin had been confined to Konoha indefinitely. Apparently, it wasn't safe for her to go out on missions, not with that _thing _within her. Kakashi had joined ANBU the moment Rin had been deemed stable and released from the hospital, off on his first mission without saying goodbye. He never failed to protect Rin, at least from enemy nin and the occasional half-drunk civilian who found the young medic attractive, but he couldn't save her from the battles she fought within – he never even tried. They both knew that even the genius son of the White Fang could only do so much.

For several years Rin had taken solace in the Namikaze family. Her old sensei had been more than welcoming and Kushina was very possibly the kindest person Rin had ever met. She also admired the fire and strength Minato's wife possessed, even until the very end. No one had taken their deaths harder than Rin, not even Kakashi.

Two-year-old Naruto Uzumaki was a beautiful child. He had a shock of bright blonde hair and vibrant blue eyes identical to his father's and a soft smile that reminded Rin almost hauntingly of Kushina. The civilians and Konoha nin alike often treated the infant as a pariah, even Kakashi seemed to disregard his existence entirely; though her old teammate seemed to be disregarding a lot of things lately.

Rin had taken it upon herself to look after the boy, despite the protests of the third Hokage and the Konoha council. She had reasoned that with her particular problem, she would be best suited to keep an eye on and stop Naruto should he lose control at some point in the future. While her argument was thin, it had been enough for the Hokage to award Rin guardianship of her sensei's child.

Every moment that wasn't occupied by her work at the hospital and young Naruto was still spent mourning Obito. No matter how hard she tried, how long she worked, or how much she cried, Rin could never get the black sheep of the Uchiha clan out of her mind.

Though the entirety of the proud Uchiha clan despised Kakashi because he, an outsider, possessed their precious sharingan, they blatantly hated Rin. The young woman firmly believed that had it not been for Mikoto's infinite kindness, one of the Uchiha elders would have ordered her to be assassinated. Mikoto and Kushina had been friends at the Academy. They had stayed fairly close throughout their careers as kunoichi, and later their respective marriages to powerful men. Mikoto actually had a son only a few months older than Naruto, a rather petulant little child named Sasuke.

It amused both Mikoto and Rin how Sasuke and Naruto seemed to deem themselves rivals from their very first meeting at two years of age. Barely a glance had been exchanged between the children before they snarled at each other and got into an argument before they'd even been introduced. While Rin did find Sasuke to be a rather amusing child, he was also rather trying on her patience. His eyes were identical to Obito's – Rin later discovered that they were cousins, Obito being the son of Mikoto's elder sister – and it unnerved the medic to no end. Itachi, who was four years older than both Naruto and Sasuke, was a sweet and charming little boy with whom Rin enjoyed the occasional walk and conversation; she looked forward to seeing the young genius' accomplishments, not realizing at the time just _what _that sweet, charming little boy would accomplish.

As much as Rin enjoyed and cherished her time with the small portion of the Uchiha clan that _didn't _want her head on a stick, she still found herself alone entirely too much. It had occurred to the young woman in passing that nearly all of her class from the Academy had already paired up, a few had even settled down to start a family. She was already nineteen years old and would be turning twenty in a few short months. By shinobi standards, Rin was practically an old maid – and a _virgin _one at that.

More than once she had contemplated a relationship with Kakashi. Most shinobi simply assumed that the two were dating, especially since the silver-haired nin had very nearly shoved a Chidori up Ebisu's rectum when the poor man had let his hand wander to Rin's waist. There was a time when Rin believed herself to be in love with Kakashi. After all, the man had everything. His career was more than promising, having already gained the rank of ANBU Captain, not to mention his numerous commendations from the War and having achieved the rank of jonin at age thirteen – something Rin had only recently attained. Despite his rather aloof and sometimes cold persona, Kakashi had a heart of gold and would never purposely hurt or endanger the young medic – save for that one Chidori to the chest. He definitely had looks going for him as well, Rin had noted with a small blush, he had certainly grown to be a very attractive man.

All in all, Kakashi seemed like the total package, so to speak. Yet, Rin didn't love him and she suspected that she never would. It was heartbreaking to love a dead man, Rin decided, even more so after the Kiri Incident. No one save for Minato and Kushina had bothered to understand and offer comfort and it stung Rin's heart that Kakashi had never given her more than a one-shouldered hug and a mumbled apology. Sure, he didn't know the extent of her pain, but he'd put a _Chidori _through her _chest_! One would think such a thing would at least warrant flowers.

"Okaasaaaaaaaaaaaan!" Naruto drawled as he tugged at the hem of Rin's skirt. She sighed and scooped up the child, who had somehow managed to cover himself head-to-toe in mud and grass.

"Did you and Sasuke get in a fight again?" Rin asked as she toted the toddler through their small apartment and into the bathroom.

Naruto responded with a gurgling giggle and a mischievous grin. Rin shook her head in exasperation but smiled just the same as she dampened a washcloth and set about rubbing the muck from little Naruto's grimy face.

Yes, she missed Obito so badly that it made her chest ache. Perhaps, though, Rin thought tentatively as Naruto protested and squirmed about beneath the washcloth, everything would be alright one way or another.

Dear, innocent little Rin was utterly clueless in regard to the chain of events that had been set in motion the day she nearly died by Kakashi's hand. She had no way of knowing that somewhere beyond the borders of the Fire Country there sat a young man just as broken as she. Poor, naïve Rin went on living her life, oblivious to the dark clouds gathering on the horizon, waiting to unleash a storm like no other.

For many years Rin would go on to live her ordinary life, playing mother to little Naruto and doing her mundane job at the hospital. She would weep for Obito, but the tears grew less frequent as the years stretched on and Rin finally decided that the young Uchiha boy would have wanted her to at least try to be happy, wouldn't he? Yes, she would try, for Obito's sake, to keep herself together and move on with her life as Kakashi had.

Little did Rin realize that a quiet stroll one night would throw her carefully balanced world crashing to the ground once more. Because Rin was both a medic and a mother, and every instinct in her body forced her to run toward the horrified screams coming from the Uchiha compound on one fateful night.

There she would find young Sasuke sprawled unconscious on the blood-spattered pavement and catch sight of Itachi's retreating form. There Rin would see the slightest flash of a familiar face before it was obscured behind a mask.

There Rin would see the ghost known as Obito Uchiha for the first time.

_**~End~**_

**Author's Note:**

Well, that wasn't ominous at all, right? Heh, I feel a bit like I tried to cram too much into just one chapter, but this is my first time writing an ObiRin fic (or any form of FanFiction at all, for that matter) so I really don't know how much shoddily written drama can be crammed into one chapter and still be considered passable. :)

Yes, I _DO _have a reasonable and perhaps even plausible reason for Rin to be alive, but I really can't go into detail about it without massive spoilers that'll ruin any chance this story might have for an element of mystery. I adore Obito and Rin, and quite frankly cried like a bitch when Obi-kun died. WHY, KISHI?! WHYYYYYYY?!

*ahem* This is essentially just a prologue to test the waters and see if anyone would even be remotely interested in an ObiRin fic where they don't die in the end. In my opinion, Obito and Rin are the least appreciated couple in anime history. Of course, this could be because they both DIED before anything could actually transpire between them, but that's beside the point. I'm still working out how I'll write Obito, but I'm shooting for a somewhat reserved Rin (you would be reserved if the person you love literally died right frickin' in front of you and then your best friend/crush tried to kill you) who's an amazing medic (come on, she did an eye transplant with nothing but a small medical kit in the middle of rubble crashing down around her, her friend DYING, AND a bunch of people running around wanting to kill her) and can still kick ass when she needs to, but doesn't Sakura levels of obvious I-can-kick-your-balls-out-your-throat-ness. One of the things I liked best about Rin was the fact that she really was never portrayed as amazing super-genius steroid-guzzling super-hot badass, and I would like to try and write her as someone who is fairly average ninja-wise but is amazing because of who she is and what she does with the abilities she does have rather than an overpowered badass/marysue.

Alright, now that I've gotten THAT off my chest to (hopefully) avoid flames, I'll shut up. If anyone has made it all the way down here, have a cookie and know that I love you; but not in a stalker way, I promise. ;)

Please review, I would really like some input from the ObiRin community (there are others, right? DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE TO DROWN IN MY OBIRIN FEEEEEEEEELS!) on whether or not I should continue this. I do apologize for how rushed it is and any/all grammatical errors, I currently have no Beta and basically just wrote this in one big stretch because inspiration struck.

~ Sheepy-chan


	2. Chapter 2

_I screamed when you left_

_You never said goodbye_

_I was still clinging to your warmth_

_When you departed for the sky_

"Be good for Kurenai, Naruto!" Rin called over her shoulder before tugging the door shut.

A small smile spread across the woman's face as she took a deep breath of the cool evening air and set off down the street. Rin was extraordinarily proud of Naruto for his determination to attend the Academy and found herself pleasantly surprised by his grades; which, while still rather poor, far exceeded what she had feared. Still, it was beyond exhausting to be constantly battling with the Elders over Naruto and the potential danger he posed to the other students. Thankfully, the Hokage seemed to see things from Rin's perspective and, having a soft spot for his former student's progeny, overruled the Elders' protests and allowed Naruto to attend. Still, it was a constant battle with the assorted teachers – rarely did Naruto come home without at least three notes of complaints from one teacher or another – and Rin found herself perpetually swamped with both Academy matters as well as the obscene amount of paper work she had piled up on her desk at the hospital.

Every now and then, Rin decided, it was good to take a break from the chaos of, well, _life_.

Amongst the mountain of things to be done, Rin was overjoyed to have reconnected with her old friend Kurenai after an accidental meeting in the supermarket. Kurenai and Rin had gotten along well during their days at the Academy, but after Obito's death and the Kiri Incident Rin had never bothered to keep up with something so trivial as friendships. After a few brief apologies on both sides, the two women decided to get together for coffee and their friendship was rekindled. Most of all, Rin was ecstatic to finally have someone to keep an eye on Naruto – who petulantly claimed that he was seven years old and could look after himself – while she took a bit of time to do nothing.

Rin allowed her mind to wander as she strolled at leisurely pace down the street. She wondered how Kakashi was doing and added paying her friend a visit to the absurdly long list of tasks she had accumulated. They hadn't spoken in quite some time, or even seen each other in nearly six months. Of course, such a thing wasn't particularly unusual since Kakashi made himself quite scarce whenever Rin actually managed to track him down, always spouting some nonsense about 'ANBU work' he had to attend to. Rin wasn't quite sure if the silver-haired shinobi was avoiding heror Naruto, but either way she needed to tie him down and force him to tell her what in the world was so horrible about taking a bit of time to catch up with an old friend.

With a heavy sigh Rin tore her mind from thoughts of Kakashi and took a sharp left turn toward the Uchiha District. It wasn't particularly late yet, just after seven thirty, so perhaps she would pay Mikoto a visit. Rin's list of friends was pitifully short, consisting of Kakashi (which was an iffy friendship at best), Kurenai, and the matriarch of the Uchiha clan. It wasn't that Rin was unsociable or an unlikable person, she just had a painfully hard time making emotional connections after Obito. A part of her was terrified of actually growing close to people because they only ever seemed to leave Rin behind. The parents that she barely knew, Obito, Minato and Kushina, Kakashi . . . Kakashi was still physically present, obviously, but Rin wasn't an idiot, she could see the distance in his eyes. Well, eye. Perhaps that was why she didn't want to think too hard about how big Naruto was getting; why, in a few years he would be taller than her. In a few years he would be a fully graduated Genin running off on missions and putting himself right in the line of fire. Practically only a handful of months from that moment, Naruto could very well get himself killed and leave Rin all alone again.

The kunoichi shook her head sharply and forced her gaze to the stars overhead. It was a beautiful, clear night with the full moon hanging low in the sky and the pinpricks of light that were the stars twinkling softly. Upon further consideration, Rin decided it would be better to visit Obito than to annoy Mikoto with her presence. The older woman never protested Rin's presence – she was obviously too well bred for that – but Rin knew that the majority of the Uchiha clan loathed her simply because of what she had done when carrying out Obito's last wish. All of the clan knew that Rin had performed the transplant to give Kakashi Obito's sharingan eye, and they would most certainly never forgive her for it. Truly it was a wonder that Mikoto allowed her to be around sweet Itachi and petulant little Sasuke; Rin suspected that it was because the Uchiha woman was just as isolated from any sort of friendship as Rin herself was.

Having made up her mind, Rin was just changing directions to head toward the Memorial Stone when the first blood-curdling scream rang out. She tensed reflexively and swiveled her head toward the noise; toward the Uchiha compound. Several moments of silence passed and Rin had just begun to straighten, dismissing it as a training exercise or something equally unimportant, when a horrible wail pierced the night. Without another moment's pause Rin pushed chakra to the muscles of her feet and legs as she took off toward the compound.

She knew that scream.

It belonged to Sasuke.

~S~

"That was quite cruel, Itachi. I like your style."

One pair of blazing sharingan eyes glared darkly at the man who carried a mask in his hand and called himself Madara, clashing with the placid expression on the young boy's face. His forehead protector was still askew, but the shinobi made no move to right it. He made no movement at all.

"Oh? So now I get the silent treatment." The man chuckled. "Everything I've done for you, and you repay me with a glare. Really, I'd thought your parents raised you better."

The shinobi boy's fists clenched and his mouth opened to retort, but any further conversation was halted by the pounding of footsteps drawing closer. Both ninja tensed, heads snapping toward the noise just as a woman with choppy brown hair and a purple stripe on either cheek came running toward them, fistful of kunai in each hand. The man's eyes widened almost imperceptibly before he slipped the mask on with one fluid movement and waved a hand at the boy.

"I will take care of this, go." he ordered shortly, no discernible emotion in his words. The shinobi boy was motionless for a moment, taking in the woman's startled expression before he turned and vanished in the moonlit night.

For an immeasurable period the masked man and brown-eyed woman stared at each other, neither willing to make the first move. Memories flew through the masked man's mind, things that had long since been tucked away in the back of his thoughts where they could no longer hurt him. The woman was quite obviously real, but he knew that her face was wrong. It wasn't the first time he imagined to see _her_, and he bitterly came to the conclusion that it wouldn't be the last. She would forever haunt him, that beautiful laugh always dancing at the edge of his mind and her breathtaking smile perpetually appearing in his thoughts. He had grown to accept it as a fact of life, taken the painful reminders of the girl he loved as inspiration and motivation to create a better world. A perfect world.

A world with Rin.

Alas, reminiscing would not achieve anything, and he couldn't very well stand around waiting for the woman to put a kunai through his head. Still, he couldn't quite bring himself to kill her. He _knew _her face was another illusion conjured by his fractured mind, but the irrational part of him refused to harm someone who looked even remotely like the girl from his childhood. So, with killing her not an option, he did the next best thing. With an inaudible sigh he shifted his mask just-so.

"Tsukuyomi."

And the girl fell forward.

He caught her shoulders before she splattered her brains all over the already-bloodied pavement and set the woman's body near the prone form of the small boy named Sasuke. For half a moment he stared at her wide, horror-filled eyes as she took in the world of nightmares thrown at her within the prison of her own mind. In another lifetime, he would have felt guilt. Now, however, he turned and vanished into the night without so much as a twinge of sympathy. Nothing so simple as a stray, weak emotion would stop him now; he simply wouldn't allow it.

There was no time for guilt or sorrow. Only the war he would bring about and the building of a new, perfect world.

**~End~**

**Author's Note:**

Wow. Just . . . wow.

I would like to start by giving a digital cookie to all of the amazing people who've reviewed. It completely blew me away how many people wanted me to continue this, and every single review made me grin so wide I was asked several times by assorted family members why I was staring at my computer like a crazy person. They didn't understand when I shouted back a garbled mix of "ObiRin" "FF" "Reviews" and "Ohmahgerddeylervemeh!"

*ahem* Moving on.

This chapter is half the length I had intended it to be, but so every single reviewer has asked me to update as soon as possible and, well, it felt wrong to keep everyone waiting. Yes, Obito has finally made his appearance! I sincerely hope that his reason for not believing Rin was Rin seemed plausible to you guys as well; I just couldn't have him whisking Rin off to Neverland this early in the story.

In other business, the next update will probably be in five to seven days, because life is a bitch and it tends to have puppies. Reviews really do inspire me to write despite the impending threat of college starting up within the next week among various other responsibilities I have.

*sighs happily* It's so nice to know that I'm not the only member of the ObiRin community. Seriously, I started grinning and cackling like a crazy person when I saw that other people ship Obi-kun and Rin-chan too! I almost replied to the handful of reviews that were sent by non-Guest-type-peoples, but then I realized that it would make me seem like a nutso psyco stalker woman, so I'll settle for shouting out to everyone all at once that I love you!~ (in a totally non-creepy-stalker way, I promise!)

This chapter has not been Beta-d and barely received much more than a quick glance from me – I was in quite a hurry to post it for you guys – so I sincerely apologize for any and all mistakes. :)

~ Sheepy-chan


	3. Chapter 3

_Alone in the shadows_

_I was forced to keep breathing_

_Without you to keep me sane_

_In my head I felt the insanity seething_

Rin had never been particularly fond of waking up in a hospital.

It wasn't that she had anything against hospitals – she was a medic nin for goodness sake – but the weary, confused feeling that prodded at her mind whenever she awoke tangled amongst the sterile while sheets sent a shot of icy fear down Rin's spine.

"Okasan!" Naruto's high, childish voice was laced with worry and made Rin wince. "Kurenai, Okasan is awake!"

Rin laughed hoarsely and smiled at Naruto as he leapt onto her hospital bed and threw his little arms around her in a rib-crushing hug. Despite the dull pounding sensation in the back of Rin's head, _no one _could resist a Naruto hug. She returned the overzealous eight-year-old's embrace and absently ruffled his spiky blonde hair. Honestly, Naruto could be so sweet sometimes that it made Rin want to cry. Such a kindhearted boy should never have had to grow up without parents, should never have had to face the scorn of an entire village because of something he never had any choice in. It was one of those things that made Rin feel the hot, dark tendrils of anger prod at her heart.

"Rin!" came Kurenai's bright voice as she hurried into the room, Asuma following close at her heels. "Oh, thank god. Everyone has been so worried about you, Kakashi came by a bit ago and-" Asuma set a hand on Kurenai's shoulder and the crimson-eyed woman fell silent.

"'Kashi said that I shouldn't worry 'cause Okasan is a fighter." Naruto piped up, pulling back just enough to flash Rin a bright grin. "He also said that the Hokage wants to talk to you once you're feeling better."

Rin sighed quietly and nodded before turning to the couple still standing in the doorway. "Thank you for coming by, Kurenai; and for keeping an eye on Naruto." She smiled at the boy and ruffled his hair again. "He can be a bit of a handful sometimes."

Naruto squawked indignantly and pouted as Kurenai laughed.

~S~

"Have a seat, Rin."

Rin took a deep breath and nodded mutely as she sat in the plain wooden chair opposite Hiruzen Sarutobi. She had never been particularly close to the Third Hokage, but Rin had met him occasionally during her visits to the Namikaze household. While the elderly man intimidated Rin due to his position, she had always found him to be quite kind and grandfatherly in his ways. Still, in the albeit brief time that Rin had known the man, she had never seen him look as frazzled and worn down as he did in that moment. Dark circles marked the skin under his eyes, telling tales of many sleepless and stressful nights. His thinning white hair was rumpled and sticking out at peculiar angles, as though he had been tugging at it in frustration and irritation. Rin decided it was not her place to ask after the health of the Hokage, but she did silently worry for him.

"I assume you have already given a statement to ANBU?" He asked, folding his hands beneath his chin and setting both elbows on the desk with a weary thump.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Rin confirmed with a short nod. She clamped her own hands together and hid them in her lap to keep from tugging at her fingers nervously. "An ANBU nin spoke with me before I left the hospital.

Well, Rin had spoken with an ANBU nin. She had never known anyone in ANBU to be particularly chatty – goodness only knew how Kakashi was as much of a conversationalist as the average brick wall – but it had been downright unnerving to try not to stare at the white cat mask as she explained what had happened the previous night. Exactly four short, to the point questions had been asked by the ANBU nin in a clipped and emotionless voice. Rin shuddered at the memory.

"Good." Sarutobi sighed. "It should go without saying, but I'm going to remind you not to speak about anything you witnessed last night until the ANBU investigation has been concluded."

Rin nodded again and stared very intently at her hands. "Hokage-sama . . . may I ask a question."

"Of course, Rin."

"Were . . . were there any survivors?" her head was spinning as the harsh memories of blood-spattered pavement and prone bodies strewn like broken toys. Rin bit her lip and willed herself not to get sick. It would be very undignified to vomit all over the Hokage's desk. She was a kunoichi, dammit! A bit of blood shouldn't have made her feel faint!

Perhaps it wasn't the memory of the gore that made Rin feel ill.

"Just one." The Hokage said with another sigh. "Sasuke, Itachi's little brother."

Rin very nearly choked as her head snapped up in surprise. "Sasuke?"

"You know the boy?"

"Y-yes, Hokage-sama . . ." Rin took a slow breath and made eye contact. "He and Naruto are friends."

'Friends' was probably the wrong word, but Rin did not particularly feel like explaining the rather amusing hate-hate relationship between the children.

"I see." Sarutobi hummed. "Rin?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama?"

"I think I would like to have you speak with Sasuke when he awakes. The poor child has experienced a horrific trauma, and perhaps a familiar face will help to ease his mind somewhat."

Rin blinked in surprise and nodded. "Of course, Hokage-sama."

~S~

Kakashi Hatake was not an easy man to track down.

Three and a half hours after her meeting with the Hokage, Rin was still searching fruitlessly through the village for any sign of the silver-haired Jonin. For the first two hours it had felt a bit like a game of hide-and-seek to Rin and she didn't particularly mind running across rooftops and questioning every ANBU, Chunin, and Jonin she came across. After spending nearly eight years – Naruto's birthday was coming up, Rin remembered with a fond smile – of walking along the regular roads and paths with little Naruto by her side, Rin couldn't help but cherish the exhilarating feeling of running like a ninja again. It had been so long since she'd been on a mission, had a chance to _really _do what she was trained for, that Rin often feared she had lost her edge long ago. She trained on as regular a basis as a working single mother could manage, of course, but the kunai in her pouch had long since been dulled down to keep Naruto from hurting himself with them as a toddler and all of Rin's hard earned medical jutsu were applied only to minor bruises and scrapes that her little charge happened to get in the midst of his adventures at the Academy.

It wasn't that Rin was bitter about her position as Naruto's adoptive mother, not at all. In fact, if she had been taken off of active duty simply because of her old Sensei's orphaned son, Rin was certain that she wouldn't have been bothered in the least. But she had been confined to Konoha and forbidden from any sort of mission long before Naruto had even been born. It tore the young woman up inside to think of what she could have done to help during the Kyuubi attack, the lives that she could have saved if they had only _let her fight_. Instead, a chunk of the village had been demolished, hundreds if not thousands had died, and Naruto had been left without any family to speak of. Even so many years after the Kyuubi attack, Rin knew she would still never go on another mission. For Naruto there was still hope, times were changing and Rin fought every minute of every day for the boy to be able to live a normal life and be the ninja that the son of Minato should have been. But for Rin? For Rin it was far too late.

"Yo."

Rin nearly fell straight off the roof in surprise as she was jerked from her dark thoughts by a certain silver-haired nin.

"Where in the world have you been, Kakashi?" She demanded, frowning at her friend's habit of casually popping out of thin air whenever it gave him the opportunity to scare the daylights out of someone. "I've been searching from one end of Konoha to the other, you know."

"Well, there was this little kid whose cat got stuck up in a-" Rin raised a hand to cut him off and shook her head, trying to hide the smile that tugged at her features.

"On second thought, I really don't want to know."

"Have it your way."

The two strolled at a languid pace across the rooftops for a while, both happy with the companionable silence that had fallen between them. As Rin thought about how quiet things were without Naruto following her about and shouting everything he said at the top of his lungs, she was oblivious to Kakashi observing her from the corner of his eye.

It surprised the Copy-nin how much little Rin Nohara had grown up. He still remembered her as the small Medic nin with a huge crush on him and a talent for nothing other than healing jutsu. Now he was faced with a young woman who had gone through hell and back more than once, lost nearly everyone she had loved, and been barred from ever being a true kunoichi again. Physically it was blatantly obvious that Rin was fast approaching her twenty second birthday. Curves had replaced her flat, boyish figure during the days of Team Minato, impossible to disguise despite Rin's habitual garb of a loose, baggy lavender shirt with sleeves that went all the way to her mid-forearm and plain black spandex shorts beneath a slightly worn tan medical skirt that covered all the way to just above her knees modestly. Emotionally it was less obvious, but the changes Rin had gone through still showed.

Guilt gnawed at Kakashi as he thought about everything that his friend had gone through on her own. He knew he wasn't a good person, nor had he ever claimed to be one. Still . . . It was Naruto that really got to Kakashi. Rin was entirely too young to be a single mother, even if it wasn't her child by blood that she raised. Many times Kakashi had been on the verge of offering to help Rin, to step in and fill the role of the father for Naruto's sake as much as Rin's and his own. Instead, though, the Copy-nin spent his time working away at mission after mission and wasted any bit of free time on failed attempts at a restless night's sleep or a few bottles of sake at the bar across the street from ANBU headquarters. It made him sick to his stomach to think of how horrible he had been to Rin, how he had ignored and avoided her as though they had never been friends to begin with. But the pain in Kakashi's chest when he saw Rin, when he thought about what they had meant to each other so long ago and everything they had been to together always seemed to trump his guilt.

"You look a little preoccupied." Rin said with a small smile as she watched Kakashi from the corner of her eye. "Something in particular on your mind?"

"Oh, nothing much." Kakashi shrugged. "Just remembering the pile of laundry I have to get done. ANBU armor doesn't wash itself."

~S~

In the blackened depths of an abandoned building sitting unused in the center of Amegakure stood two shadowed figures. The room was lit by nothing save for the bright flashes of lightning splitting the night sky and tearing open the thick grey rainclouds pouring down sheets of water. For several long moments they stared at one another, thunder crashing just outside the window not half a second after a blinding white stab of lightning lit up the nearest figure. He was a tall man with countless piercings marking his face and ears with a spiked mess of vibrant ginger hair atop his head. Pale lilac-grey eyes observed the second figure impassively, seemingly unperturbed by the other man's hooded black cloak and spiraled orange mask

"Orochimaru is gone." The grey-eyed man said softly, rich tenor barely audible over the storm raging outside.

"I am aware." Said the second man. "He did us more harm than good."

"Hoshigaki will kill the Uchiha." The grey-eyed man pointed out blankly.

"Perhaps." The second man said with a deep chuckle. "I happen to think the two of them will get along quite well. Sasori will need a new partner soon, however. Send Itachi, Kisame, and Sasori to Iwa; I have heard some rather interesting rumors about a young shinobi there that could be very beneficial to the cause."

The grey-eyed man was silent for a moment, emotionless eyes not showing so much of a glimpse of the rage boiling within. He disliked being ordered about like nothing more than a puppet to do the master's bidding. Nagato was not a man who enjoyed bowing to another purely because they thought themselves above him, nor did he take kindly to bullies. For a while longer he would play the part of the servant, for his beloved Konan's sake and for the memory of Yahiko.

Soon, though . . . Soon the man who called himself Pein would take orders no longer.

"Of course, Madara."

**~End~**

**Author's Note:**

I fail at life.

Gurgh . . . Now only is this like a month late – overestimating a bit, but still – but chapter three is about half the length I intended it to be. I didn't get the chance to proof-read it either, and seeing as how I'm Beta-less you guys are basically getting this exactly as I wrote it. I really don't think I can apologize enough.

*sigh* Alright, now I suppose I should address the 'Obito-Tsukuyomi' problem. Obi-kun's use of Tsukuyomi in the previous chapter was the result of some quick and not overly thorough research on Narutopedia. I found nothing after a brief glance to indicate that Itachi was the only person in the Naruto universe capable of using Tsukuyomi, and after finding a passage stating that anyone in the Uchiha clan was capable of using it I got carried away and forgot the basics of the sharingan. I apologize profusely for my incorrect use of Tsukuyomi and promise to go about fixing that as soon as I can manage. If anyone has a suggestion for a good jutsu to replace it, I would really appreciate some ideas given that I can't find the right genjutsu for such a thing to save my life. For the time being I will leave chapter two as it is, for the dramatic effect of Tsukuyomi if nothing else, but will refrain from any references to Obito possessing the ability to use Tsukuyomi in future chapters.

Unfortunately I cannot make any promises about when chapter four will be out because college is starting in a matter of days and work alone has kept me extraordinarily busy. I will endeavor to have it out within the next week or two, but I honestly don't want to get everybodys' hopes up only to disappoint later on. I can, however, promise that this story will NEVER be abandoned and it WILL be finished even if I have to fail all of my classes to get it done. :)

Reviews encourage me to pull my face out of studying and churn out ObiRin-ness!

~Sheepy-chan


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